Dancing in the moonlight
by soofis
Summary: In the midst of the Vietnam war Dave meets Klaus and promtly falls head over heels in love with him. This would be fantastic if not for the fact that a man loving another man is pretty not okay with most people, and Klaus also seems to have no idea.
1. Chapter 1

**1**

War fucking sucks Dave decides a few months after he first got to Vietnam. He technically already knew that, but it was sort of abstract and not really a thing that he thought about, kind of how famine sucks, but it doesn't concern Dave and is most likely never going to happen to him. So why bother thinking about it?

But now, here he is. In fucking Vietnam, and it sucks. Real bad.

The weather is horrid, unbelievably warm and either raining humid enough that it might as well be raining. Dave can't remember the last time he felt truly dry. And the bugs. The fucking bugs, big as shit and scary as fuck. Half of them are poisonous, the other half just bite of what seems as half your arm.

It's also never quiet. It's either shooting, something blowing up in the distance, or the bugs, or just people shouting and screaming in the camp.

The only upside is Klaus, if Dave hadn't gone to Vietnam, he never would have met Klaus. And Dave can't really imagine a world without Klaus anymore, can't remember what his life was even like before that strange night when he first saw him.

Not that Dave would ever tell anyone that. Talking about shit like that would be dangerous, telling anyone that he dreams about Klaus every night and that he is pretty sure he could spend the rest of his life just staring into his green and beautiful eyes and be perfectly content could possibly get him killed.

Klaus never seems to care about who listens, talking openly about all the shit he's done and flirting with everything that moves. It's almost like he isn't entirely aware that it's dangerous, or maybe he just doesn't care.

Dave's noticed that too about Klaus. He has absolutely no self-preservation skills, it terrifies Dave and makes him curse god for making him fall for someone as careless as Klaus. Because Dave doesn't think he's capable of living in a world without Klaus anymore, Klaus is like his new oxygen. Dave needs Klaus to be able to function, to breathe.

And Klaus is completely oblivious to it all. He doesn't ever notice how Dave always sticks close to him when they go, well anywhere really. Klaus didn't notice when Dave couldn't breathe for what felt like several eternities but was probably more like a minute after Klaus commented on Dave's cute butt. He doesn't notice Dave staring at him when he gets dressed. And he certainly doesn't notice when Dave cards his hands through his curly and beautiful hair when he's having a nightmare.

God fucking damnnit, Dave is so screwed. Not that he much minds.

Klaus has been in Dave's life for about two months when they get a few days of to go have fun in the city. Part of Dave is ecstatic because now he can finally relax from trying to keep Klaus alive all the time, but a bigger part is heartbroken. Because they're going to the city, and in the city there are clubs and bars and street corners with girls. And Dave is by now pretty sure that Klaus maybe kind of doesn't dislike him, but Klaus also flirts with literally everything. The other boys, the sergeants, the medics, the people they are shooting at, old ladies in villages they pass, old men in the same villages, a fucking goat. So Dave thinks that Klaus just generally flirts with everybody, paying no mind as to what that does to Dave.

So Dave is also pretty sure that Klaus is going to find a nice lady for the nights in the city and enjoy himself. Dave will then proceed to spend the rest of the time locked in a hotel room crying, it's possible that he will just stay there forever. Crying. He'll die in the hotel room and then become a ghost, forever haunting the room. Crying.

All because Klaus haven't noticed that Dave is completely fucking in love with him.

The boys all spend the day sightseeing, taking a break in their hotel rooms before heading out to a club for the night. Dave is resting on the bed, contemplating staying in for the night to save himself from having to watch Klaus with someone else, when there's a knock on the door. He gets up to see who it is and his heart starts doing flips in his chest when he sees Klaus outside looking more serious than ever. Dave quickly opens the door frowning.

"Dave, could you do something for me?" Klaus asks seriously, looking up to meet Dave's eyes.

'Yes Klaus' Dave thinks. 'Anything you want, do I need to kill someone? Do you need money? Food? I could feed you? I would literally chop my own arm off if it made you happ-

"Can you please change out of that dreadful shirt? I am begging you, my eyes are literally bleeding!" Klaus interrupts his thoughts. Dave blinks.

"You don't like my shirt?" Dave asks, completely mortified about the fact that he apparently did not have any sense of style. He adds it to the list of things he can cry about later.

"Dave, Davey. There is literally no one in the entire world who likes that shirt, its only redeeming feature is that it's very tight and very beautifully shows of all your muscles." Klaus says, and squeezes his upper arm to show his point. Dave meanwhile is trying not to pass out, because holy fucking shit, praise the lord; Klaus is touching him. Dave might have died and gone to heaven. He blinks again.

"Ehm, Dave? You alright? Did someone hit the reset button on you?" Klaus asks and gives his arm another squeeze.

Dave manages a nod. Which apparently is enough for Klaus who barges in to his room and straight for Dave's bag which he starts rifling through, presumably to find a better shirt.

"Dave?"

'Yes Klaus? Love of my life, Cactus to my desert, Apple to my pie, sun to my moon, water to my crops, plant fertilizer to my-'

"Hmm?"

Klaus snorts and sighs at the same time and Dave melts. "Are these the only clothes you have?"

"Yes." Ever so eloquently Dave, real smooth.

"Hmm" Klaus says and scrunches up his nose, "I guess your tight shirt will have to do then, because these are somehow all worse."

"Oh." Jesus Christ Dave, get it together.

"Sorry?" Dave could cry, all hope is lost. Klaus has great style, everything he wears looks amazing. He'll never like Dave now.

"Nah, don't worry about it too much Davey. Your face more than makes up for your lack of fashion" Klaus winks at him, smiling his crooked smile that Dave loves. Then he gets up and comes closer, standing right in front of Dave and just looking.

When he's this close Dave notices just about everything there is to notice about Klaus, like how he's not sober (he rarely is), and that his hands are shaking minutely, and that his eyes, though relatively focused on Dave, flickers around looking at things that aren't there.

Dave wonders if Klaus has always been like this, seeing shit, crying and screaming in his sleep, constantly high. Or maybe something happened? He rarely talks about where he came from, but sometimes he'll say something like how sleeping out here in the jungle isn't so bad compared to some of the other places he's slept. Or someone asks about an old scar on his arm "oh yeah, my father made my brother Diego use me as target practice with his knife. No biggie". Which no, wrong. Very big biggie. It makes Dave's heart ache.

Dave very badly wants to find whoever the fuck Klaus' father is and kill him. Dave also wants to hug Klaus and tell him that he'll never let anyone hurt him ever again.

After a few seconds Klaus stops staring and starts dragging Dave out of the room.

"Come on Dave! Time to hit the town! Woo!"

Klaus is fun to hang around, all the boys in their squad agrees. They all think he's batshit crazy, but something about him just makes everyone want to be his friend.

Out at the club all the boys seem to want to drink with Klaus, and Klaus complies. It makes Dave jealous even though he knows none other than him and possibly Klaus is looking for more.

Klaus, to Dave's delight, hangs around Dave. Dancing, drinking, dancing some more. And Dave starts hoping that maybe Klaus feels things for him back. They find two girls and starts dancing with them instead. Mostly to keep up appearances for Dave, can't have the boys start thinking he's not interested in girls. But still Klaus is always near. The four of them dancing all together, Klaus and Dave going of periodically to get more drinks and to check in with the other boys. Their squad is starting to thin out from the club, most of them finding a girl and taking her back to their hotel room for the night after a few songs of dancing. But Dave doesn't want this to end, he wants to stay here with Klaus. Dancing, drinking, laughing. He's perfectly happy here.

And it seems that Klaus feels the same way.

That is until, Klaus' girl whispers in his ear and they both disappear. And Dave's heart breaks.


	2. Chapter 2

**2**

It's a few weeks since they went to the city, and Dave is over it. Completely and thoroughly over it, Klaus can do what he wants and Dave is not allowed to feel bad about it.

At least that is what he keeps telling himself. In reality Dave is not over it. At all. But he also recognizes that there isn't anything he can do about it. He can't really tell Klaus, because that would make things awkward if Klaus didn't reciprocate Dave's feelings. And even if Klaus did, that might be even worse. Because then they'd have to sneak around and make sure nobody found out about them. Dave who has now known Klaus for a few months can't imagine Klaus being capable of any kind of sneaking.

So this is better. Dave can suffer in silence and Klaus and he can be friends.

Not even close friends, because avoiding Klaus as much as one can when stuck in a small camp in the jungle in Vietnam makes it easier to avoid thinking about Klaus. And if Dave's not thinking about Klaus, then he's not thinking about how much he is in love with Klaus.

This works until he's told that he's going on a mission. With Klaus. Alone.

Because however eccentric and weird Klaus might be, he's a damn good soldier. And ever since he showed up, he's proved his worth a 100 times over.

He has instincts that border on unnatural, always knows when there's charlies about to attack or where the land mines are put out. That's not always enough though. And Klaus always seems to take it very hard whenever they lose someone.

Klaus is the kind of person who can change the mood of everyone around him. When he's happy, everyone around him is smiling and everybody feels a little lighter. But when he's upset, an almost eerily mood falls over the camp. And it's always worst when someone dies. Sometimes Klaus will just sit and stare at a spot in the distance for hours and hours.

It's heartbreaking to watch. And Dave hates it. And he hates that there's nothing he can really do to help.

Klaus and Dave sets out early in the morning, walking straight out into enemy territory.

Klaus walks first, looking at the map. For some reason things are kind of tense, Klaus has barely said two words that aren't related to the mission. Dave, who is very professional, focuses on more important things, like looking for charlies and bugs and snakes and rain clouds.

Did he do something? Is Klaus mad at Dave? Oh god, what if Klaus has decided to hate him. What if he's realized that Dave isn't cool? Or even worse, what if he knows, and doesn't reciprocate Dave's feelings.

Yep, totally thinking about the mission. The mission comes first, there are lives at stakes. Like Klaus' life, and Klaus and Dave's future kids. No. Stop. Mission. One foot in front of the other. Klaus' feet ever barely makes a sound, how did he not notice this before? FOCUS.

Around noon, Klaus decides that they're in the right place, and they decide to have lunch. Or Dave has lunch, and Klaus pokes at his food. He looks like he wants to say something, but he doesn't.

After lunch they go over some more logistics of the mission, who takes what shift to sleep, what code words are they using and for what, how long are they going to stay here before calling quits and retuning to camp.

It's all very dull, but Klaus seems weirdly invested in it. Dave would rather talk about anything elsre. Like how Klaus barely ate anything at lunch, is he okay? Is he sick? Oh god, Dave can't take it.

"Are you okay?" He blurts out.

"What? Yes of course, why wouldn't I be?" Klaus answers in confusion.

"It's just, you've been very quiet.. And you're usually never quiet, so I thought maybe something was wrong.

Not that you would have to tell me, I mean, you could if you wanted to… I would be happy to listen" Dave blurts out.

Klaus just stares and blinks at him. Oh god, he made it weird. Of course Klaus doesn't want to talk about his problems with Dave, Dave's been avoiding him for weeks. Shit, he totally ruined everything.

"Why do you care all of a sudden? You've barely managed to be in the same room as me for weeks and now you want to know what's on my mind?" Klaus bites back.

"I… What… No… That's not…" Oh my god Klaus hates him, Dave is going to implode. He can't libe in a world where Klaus hates him, he just can't.

"Oh just spare me the excuses, it's because I'm queer right? Don't worry about it, I'm used to it… Just… You don't have to pretend to care, okay? We'll get through the next couple of days and then you can go back to ignoring me."

'Klaus, no. That's not… I've been avoiding you because I like you to much, I was afraid I'd blurt it out in front of the others because my brain stops working around you. And if anyone finds out they'll send us home. Our lives would be over, and I can't be responsible for that. I don't know what I'll do if anything happens to you. Because Klaus. I love you.'

Is what Dave want's to say. But he can't get the words out. So instead he just stares at Klaus, like an idiot.

After an uncomfortable amount of time, Dave finally manages to reboot his brain and says

"Klaus, I haven't' been avoiding you. We've both just been really busy.

And being..

You know.. Is dangerous, you shouldn't talk about it."

Klaus just looks at him for a minute before shaking his head and snorting

"Yeah, well Dave… I can't really change what I am. Sorry if that bothers you."

"I'm gonna go find some firewood." Klaus says and walks away.

Dave wants to cry. Actually crying isn't enough. Dave want to dig a hole and bury himself and never be seen again. Because Klaus hates him. Even worse, Klaus thinks that Dave hates him.

How does that even work? Dave could never hate him. He's the most amazing thing ever. And Dave loves him. More than anything he's ever loved ever.

Suddenly there's a bang, and a minute later Klaus comes running back. Screaming for Dave to fuckinng move it already.

Dave jumps to action and picks up their essentials and starts running. Slightly slower than he could until Klaus catches up, then they're both going as fast as they can.

Dave hears the people behind them, feels the bullets whizzing past his head. He knows that they'll definetaly die if one of them slows down, or falls, or anything. They'll probably die anyway. And isn't that what Dave deserves? Klaus thinks he hates him, Dave can't live with that. But he knows that if he goes down, Klaus will get distracted and then he'll die to. And just doesn't work. Klaus can't die. Under no circumstances is Klaus allowed to die. They keep running.

It was of course inevitable that one of them were to get hit after a while, Klaus cries out as a bullet catches him in the side. He crashes in to a tree, but manages to remain standing. Dave stops, turns around, and runs back to him.

Klaus is already checking the wound, holding preassure against the blood.

"It's fine, it's just a graze." He gets out between wheezing breaths. Dave, also wheezing, doesn't even try to talk and just nods. Quickly tearing of one of his shirt arms, they'd left their med kit behind, and tying it around Klaus' middle.

"Come on, we gotta keep going. They'll catch up." Dave finally manages.

"Can you keep going?" He asks.

Klaus just closes his eyes and breathes deeply through his nose before nodding.

Dave takes his hand, locks eyes with him. And then they're off again.

It's slower going now. But for some reason, the charlies doesn't seem to be as interested in them.

Dave realizes why about half an hour later.

"Shit" "God fucking damnit"

"Dave?"

"Look at where we are Klaus, fuck man!" Dave all but screams.

Klaus looks around, eyes widening when he realizes that they're much deeper in enemy territory than they were before. They might would have survived if they had just gone the right fucking way.

"Fuck… Okay, we can still make it back. We'll just lay low till night and then we'll sneak back, it'll be fine. Okay Dave? It'll be fine, I'll make sure you get back" Klaus sounds panicked, and he's also slightly slurring his words.

Dave glances down to Klaus' midsection, his entire right side and down his pant leg is covered in blood.

All of a sudden Dave notices how Klaus is trembling, and how pale he looks. This is really bad.

"Klaus… You need to sit down man, we gotta do something about your side. Otherwise you'll bleed out." Dave starts to push Klaus down, gently.

Klaus suddenly seems to remember that he did in fact get shot and collapses.

"Fuck! Klaus! Hey man, come on.. Look at me Klaus. Hey!" Dave shakes him, Klaus just looks at him with glassy eyes that can't seem to focus.

"Davey, sorry. Jus' give me a minute to rest an' we can keep going after okay?" He says before he passes out.

"Oh fuck, shit.. shit shit shit!" Dave tries very hard not to panic, because the love of his life is currently bleeding out and he doesn't know how to help.

"Okay, Dave.. Come on, Klaus needs you. Time to get your fucking shit together."

He starts by removing the soaked through cloth, now that they've stopped moving the bleeding seems to have slowed down. That's good. This entire thing fucking sucks, but at least Klaus will bleed out at a slightly slower rate now. _Fuck_.

He take of his shirt entirely and makes new bandages, pressing down with one on Klaus' side. Klaus groans, which Dave is pretty sure is a good sign.

Next he needs to clean it, he knows Klaus brought some moonshine, which will have to do. He pats down Klaus' pockets until he first finds a fucking needle and some thread, which is just heaven sent fucking miracle, and then finally the canteen with alcohol.

Dave wets on cloth with water, dabbing down on the graze until most of the blood and mud is gone. Then he drenches it, and the needle, in moonshine. This time Klaus twitches and his eyes opens for a second before closing again.

Dave grew up on a farm, and his mom taught him how to stich. Clothes, his mom taught him how to sew clothing. But the principle should be the same right? At least that what he tells himself as he starts to push the needle through Klaus' skin.

By the time he's done, it's getting dark. Dave decides to wait a while longer before leaving the surprisingly covered clearing between some bushes that they'd thankfully stopped in.

He manages to get Klaus to wake up enough to drink some of their water, he debates not having any himself and saving it all for Klaus. But realizes that he'll have to carry Klaus and he won't manage that if he doesn't have any of the water. So he drinks too.

Soon after it's time to get going, Dave wakes Klaus up and tells him that.

Klaus nods and starts to try to get up.

"What are you-.. No Klaus, you can barely sit up on your own. I'll carry you." Dave gently says. "I just wanted you to know. It'll probably hurt but you need to be quiet, okay?" He counts to three before hefting Klaus up in a fireman's carry and starts forward.

Klaus groans loudly but otherwise manages to stay quiet.

They have to stop and hide a few times but it goes miraculously well. After a few hours Klaus is more alert and manages to convince Dave to let him walk, that way he can be on look out and also navigate the map.

It's slow going but eventually they manage to make it back to camp, by that time all of their water has run out and Klaus stumbles so often, Dave has to hold him up. But they make it.

They fucking make it.

The people at camp meet them with two stretchers, Dave's about to insist that he doesn't need one, but just then he stumbles and falls to his knees. After that, any argument he could have made is pretty much dead. SO he gets on the stretcher and relishes the feeling of being of his feet finally.

Klaus lies down, or well more flops down, on the other stretcher and turns to look at him.

Dave looks back and smiles at him and purely by accident, he'll blame the delirium, he whispers "I love you, Klaus" right before finally passing out.


End file.
